I guess it’s time for another update!
After we got home from the South Island trip we had an intense work week. Studying, midterms, paper, and more! But at the end of the week we had a day off so a bunch of us decided to go to Raglan!
Raglan is a small town on the west coast of the North Island and is well known for its great surf spots. We got to Raglan at night, checked into our hostel, and went to get some dinner. We ended up getting take away organic burgers and took them down to the harbor to eat them. After a delicious meal we took a walk on the beach where we were happy to find BIOLUMINESCENCE!!! I walked down to the water and noticed it was sparkling every time I moved my feet and so we discovered there were bioluminescent organisms in the water. It was so cool seeing sparkling water every time you splashed around and when you stepped on the wet sand it was like fireworks going off and it looked like we were in Avatar walking on Pandora.
The next day we got up early and explored the town which was really adorable, lots of cute little shops and cafes. Then we rented surf boards and wetsuits to go try our hand at surfing the waves. We all did pretty well, it was the first time I had stood on a surf board since I was 16 but I got up a couple of times which was exciting. The waves were absolutely perfect and it was a beautiful day out. We had a really great time.
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| Sufer Girls! |
Unfortunately, we had to go back to EcoQuest after our day of sun and surf to learn about extractive industries! We visited Waihi gold mine, it was the first mine I had ever seen and I was really surprised at how massive they are. Literally just a gigantic hole in the ground, but walking through the town you would never know it was there - unless you walked up the hill to go see it or they were blasting rocks away and you felt the vibrations. We went to tour the mine to get a different perspective on mining than just the idea of how environmentally damaging they are.
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| Waihi Gold Mine see that truck on the right? |
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| That's how big it is!!! |
What we learned was that although mining actually is incredibly environmentally damaging it’s a resource we cannot do without. On the tour we learned how much the money from the mine goes into the local and New Zealand Economy and also about how mining companies can try to mitigate the damage done to the environment. In order to extract one ounce of gold from the mine 10 tons of rock needs to come out of the ground. To make a profit they have to extract 30 to 50 thousand tons of rock per day because 31.1 grams of gold is worth $2,000 NZ dollars. All of the rock that is taken from the ground and not used is deposited offsite in a giant pond. Oh and this rock is tainted with cyanide because that is the substance which separates the gold from the rock – no big deal. The company plans to mitigate this effect by turning the ponds into giant man-made wetlands.
We had a long discussion about whether or not the mine was “sustainable” or not. We discussed it wasn’t although what we produce is a very sustainable resource. Gold is long lasting, and is useful in many things other than jewelry although jewelry is the primary use. I’ve come to find that it’s difficult to label whether or not something is sustainable or not.
After a long week learning about semi-depressing things we had a two day break. The first I spent lounging around EcoQuest; biking, walking, reading, and kayaking- a really wonderful day. The next day a couple of us went to the Awhitu Wild Food Festival where we got to sample lots of exotic wild foods. I chose to eat a tahr burger as my main course. Tahr is kind of like a giant goat and it tasted pretty good. The ostrich burgers were the best though. The festival was really fun there was live music and lots of different foods to sample and to top it off it was a beautiful day!
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| Mmmm Tahr |
Tomorrow morning I am leaving EcoQuest. It is truly a bittersweet ending. I don’t want to go but I’m excited for my 12 day adventure around the North Island with my friend Kristen. It will be filled with reggae concerts, beaches, Great Barrier Island, volunteering with the DOC, back to Raglan for more surfing, horseback riding, cave exploring and so much more! I still have so much to tell you all about the rest of my EcoQuest adventures. Which hopefully I will get to before I leave NZ! If not, I’ll finish writing when I get back in the states December 22nd!
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-Emily
